Bluegrass print media news

McFarland Books has announced a July 22 release date for Dwight Diller: West Virginia Mountain Musician, a biography of the old time music stalwart by Lewis M. Stern. Diller is a true West Virginian, born and raised in a family that

Earning my living as a banjo teacher for many years of my life, I came quickly to notice that students tended to fall into one of two groups. Young people, teens through college-aged and slightly beyond, or folks in or

Lovers of the banjo have much to celebrate in this first half of the year, with two carefully researched and prepared hardcover books being released on the history of the instrument. We mentioned The Banjo - America's African Instrument earlier this

Laurent Dubois says he thinks of his new book, The Banjo - America's African Instrument, as a biography of the banjo. Tracing this uniquely American instrument from its West African roots, through its emergence in the folk and popular music of the Caribbean

Iconic mandolinist Buddy Merriam has released a follow-up edition of his mandolin book, titled Back Roads Mandolin, Volume Two. It contains transcriptions of 32 more of his original tunes for the mandolin, presented in both standard notation and tablature, along with a number of

It's been said that everyone has at least one great novel in them. I'm not so sure that's true, but haven't we all pondered whether something we've experienced or imagined might be worthy of being put down on paper? But how

The venerable Banjo NewsLetter has dedicated its December issue to the career and music of the great J.D. Crowe. Surely among the finest bluegrass banjo players ever to don picks, BNL uses the recent announcement of Crowe's retirement to remember the many decades

If you've ever spent time listening to road stories from touring musicians, you know that they see a side of life not often visible to us work-a-day souls. From the late night eateries to the 24-hour truck stops, they encounter people

We have been well served with bluegrass music books during the past year with the superb study of the Stanley Brothers' career and recorded music, The Music Of The Stanley Brothers, the substantial Bluegrass Hall of Fame Inductee Biographies, the

Annie Patterson and Peter Blood have collaborated with Hal Leonard  to create a new edition of their very popular songbook, Rise Up Singing. Like the original, which is still available, this new songbook offers words and chords to 1200 great folk songs